The Mahayana Buddhist Tradition And The Teachings Of The Bodhisattva

The significance of the Buddhist teachings has impacted the everyday lives of Buddhist adherents as it provides a set of guidance, in which the goal of individuals is to improve themselves through effort and ultimately reach Nirvana, enlightenment. Through the Four Noble truths; The existence of Dukkha (Suffering),

In other words, Nirvana stands as the state in which suffering, desire, or sense of self does not exist, and leaves the subject released from karma. In the religion, the four noble truths recapitulates the philosophies of Buddhism in a formula: 1) the truth of suffering, 2) the truth of the cause of suffering, 3) the truth of the end of suffering, and 4) the truth of the path to the end of suffering. The four noble truths simplifies further to, “Do what is beneficial, avoid doing harm, and keep the mind pure.” (Hayes). Buddhism’s background and beliefs diverse from Judaism's in several ways.

In Larissa Macfarquhar’s book, Strangers Drowning, she provides character studies of various real-life extreme do-gooders and of some could be considered moral saints. One of them is a Buddhist monk, Nemoto, who dedicates his life to a cause of helping people who want to commit suicide. He is a moral saint in the sense that he draws no barrier for when this work ends and begins. He works tirelessly by taking on the suffering of these individuals he is trying to help, taking calls any hour of the day or night, and helping anyone who wants it. He learns a very important aspect that actually changes the empathy he feels into a separation of himself an the other. In order for him to help, and truly help, he needed to stop empathizing so much and start sympathizing with emotional distance from the other. This is a similar concept in the Bodhisattva method because while empathy breaks a barrier between ‘self’ and an ‘other’, it makes working for their benefit nearly impossible. The

The Jataka is the most important Buddhist literature which was written in the 4th century BCE, and there are 547 stories. These stories are about the early lives of the Buddha before he was enlightened. The Buddha was born and reincarnated in rituals of humans, animals, and god. Buddhism is the religion of compassion that teach moral values and provides lessons. The objective of Buddhism is to enlighten about dharma and karma that might help individuals to escape the karmic cycle and reach nirvana. Dharma is expressed as the system of ethical behavior of life, distributing good life energy through the universe. Karma is mean as the network of cause/effect from the human action that can determine future reincarnation as a higher or lower creature.

Buddhists must understand the Four Noble Truths and develop and enrich the Noble Eightfold Path to end suffering and achieve Nirvana. According to Elizabeth (1997), “The Four Noble Truths are: The first Noble Truth – Suffering exists, the second Noble Truth – There is a reason for suffering, the third Noble Truth – There is a way to end suffering, the fourth Noble Truth – The way to end suffering is through the Eightfold Path.” (p. 109) The Buddha’s way to end suffering is when all desire ends and letting go of all attachments, to do this Buddhists practice and follow the rules of the Noble Eightfold Path, which are considered the “right” way to go about their daily lives. According to Osborn (1996), “The Eightfold Path rules are: Right understanding, Right intentions, Right speech, Right action, Right livelihood, Right effort, Right mindfulness, Right concentration.”

In The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching, Thich Nhat Hanh provides a citation from the Buddha, which gives insight into the cure of our distress. “I teach only suffering and the transformation of suffering” (Thich Nhat

When reading a Record of Buddhist Kingdoms, by Fa-hsien I recognized a recurring theme. Fa-hsiens travels, through different kingdoms provides the reader with insight on the life and teachings of Buddha, and the tenets of the religion he founded. Although I recognized many themes, I will reflect on three that I found insightful, and inspiring. They are self-denial, Kindness to strangers, and sacrifice.

Later we went in to the museum this is where we saw many artifacts of the Buddhist culture. These artifacts were from all different branches of Buddhism. We saw a depiction of Buddha in his last moments before he passed on to Nirvana and by this statue there were tiny marble like balls that apparently represent the merit achieved before they passed away. Then there were multiple statues of Buddha and the Bodhisattva and there were multiple art works done by many different Buddhist that the museum cycles through. Although this wasn’t a huge museum it provided with a lot of different material and information. Then at the end of the museum the guide told us a bit about Hsing Yun, the founder of the Fo Guang Shan Buddhist movement. This Buddhist

The path to spiritual freedom is sought by many people in this world. Relief from suffering is sought by many more. In these times, in all times past, and probably in times to come, the need for a spiritual guide is apparent. Kwan Yin (Guan Shih Yin in China, Kannon in Japan) is a Buddhist goddess of compassion who provides this guidance and direction for countless people.

This chapter beautifully captured what Śãntideva learned from his training with the use of vows that embody merit. The topics of suffering and happiness are touched on in the numerous vows. However, from my understanding of this chapter, an awakened being, such as a Bodhisattva with its extensive training can believe that they can transfer their merit to benefit all beings and finding or even executing happiness can help achieve that.

Buddhist teachings consist of teaching others how to end suffering in their own lives. Buddha teaches that if you follow an eightfold path, then you are moving toward reaching nirvana. This is the end of all suffering and the goal of all Buddhists.

Advanced technology and luxurious items seem bring humans into a “Modern World.” However, it seems these 21st Century technologies and items have brought more dissatisfaction, the duhkha. Death, blood and war, these words appear in the newspaper almost everyday. Despite those external dissatisfactions, internally human kind becomes more selfish and lonely. As a matter of fact, a hypochondria is becoming so popular that one in seven adults is facing it. In our society today, Buddhism, especially Mahayana Buddhism, becomes a cure to the duhkha that we are facing today. The Dharma of Mahayana Buddhism becomes very helpful to resolve many, even all the problems humans are facing today.

The Buddhist culture believes that all of our problems are caused by a confused and negative state of mind, but all good fortune and happiness comes form a positive state of mind. Buddhism is meant to teach the human mind how to overcome negative minds like ignorance, anger, and

The world’s fastest growing religion and the 4th largest religion in terms of the followers,

Buddhism does not regard ethics as a particular set of duties, rights, imperatives or obligations that should be used to evaluate the actions of a person. Instead, Buddhism views as the “accumulated wisdom” that one acquires in the areas of life and that are related to the fundamental problem that every person encounters—suffering (Voorst 2007; Becker & Becker, 2013). This paper will attempt to argue that the four noble truths are the basis onto which Buddhist ethics are founded; therefore, understanding the truths reveals the prominent elements of Buddhist ethical concerns.